About the International Marxist-Humanist Organization

The International Marxist-Humanist Organization (IMHO) aims to develop and project a viable vision of an alternative to capitalism—a new, human society— that can give direction to today’s freedom struggles. The IMHO is based on the unique philosophic contributions that have guided Marxist-Humanism since it was founded in the 1950s by Raya Dunayevskaya. We do so by working out a unity of theory and practice, worker and intellectual, and philosophy and organization.

Join us for ongoing meetings to discuss Capital by Marx. These sessions are a collective endeavor to understand the definition and content of capital, and why earlier attempts at creating “socialist” or “communist” societies proved unable to defeat it. Bring your ideas, thoughts, and suggestions to what will be an open-ended discussion.

The 1998 Chinese translation of Raya Dunayevskaya’s Marxism and Freedom (Shenyang: Liaoning Education Press), with a preface by the renowned Marxist humanist philosopher Wang Ruoshui, is now available online.

We announce the Spanish translation of Raya Dunayevskaya, The Power of Negativity, edited by Peter Hudis and Kevin B. Anderson. Apparently misinformed by the US-based copyrightholders of Dunayevskaya’s writings, Editorial Biblos in Argentina has regrettably left out the fact that these writings by Dunayevskaya were selected, edited, and annotated by Hudis and Anderson.

This represents a serious distortion of the historical record, not only because it fails to identify those who edited the book but also because it gives the false impression that it was compiled by Dunayevskaya herself, which is not the case; the first English edition was published 15 years after her death.

We are pleased to make available to our readers the electronic version of the Arabic translation of Raya Dunayevskaya’s Marxism and Freedom, published in 2010 with the support of the Victor Serge Foundation — Editors

Featured Articles

Summary: Discussion of 1917 in terms of Lenin’s concepts of state and revolution, imperialism/national liberation, and the need to uproot capitalism. Also looks at Lenin’s and Trotsky’s differences with Luxemburg and the relevance of the experience of 1917 for today, in the era since Occupy and the Arab revolutions. Originally appeared as part of an international symposium, “The Bolshevik Revolution, One Hundred Years After,” Crisis & Critique 4:2, Nov. 7, 2017 — Editors

Summary: Focuses on commodity fetishism, free and associated labor, permanent unemployment, revolution, and race/ethnicity within the working classes. Orig. appeared in Socialism and Democracy 31:1 (2017) and in escholarship, UCSB, here https://escholarship.org/uc/item/75p9f598 — Editors

Summary: From a demonstration sponsored by the LA-based Coalition for Peace, Revolution, and Social Justice (CPRSJ) and originally published on its website on November 6, 2017 https://cprsj.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/speeches-from-october-27-cprsj-demonstration-against-war-threats-over-korea-and-iran-a-korean-american-perspective/ (1300w) — Editors

Summary: This article examines identity politics, and the intersections between race and class to argue for a new “Marxist identity politics” that overcomes class reductionism, while standing against an understanding of identity politics that abstracts from a class analysis. Orig. published on Jan. 8, 2017 in Left Voice (1500w) – Editors

Summary: This article by a longtime New Afrikan political prisoner details the horrors of solitary confinement and the struggle by prisoners to resist the increasingly dehumanizing conditions within America’s criminal justice system [1950w] – Editors

Summary: A new stage of imperialist degeneracy, itself rooted in the political and economic crisis of U.S. capitalism, lies behind Trump’s threat of nuclear genocide against North Korea and his moves toward war with Iran (1000w) — Editors

Summary –German’s Bundestag elections show how neoliberal centrism paves the way for the rise of right-wing politics while failures on the left to develop alternatives to capitalist society have stifled their movement. What is to be made of the emergence of a new potential alliance of the black, green, and yellow? (1300w) – Editors

Summary: A new wave of Far Right activism has gripped the nation and confounded common preconceptions of American political life. In facing the challenge of white nationalism, it is incumbent upon the Left to re-evaluate its relationship to nationalism as such. – Stephan Hammel

Summary: Mohsen Adbelmoumen interviews Peter Hudis on contemporary working class struggles, the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the role that activists and theorists can play in envisioning alternatives to capitalism, and the significance of Frantz Fanon’s thought for ongoing struggles against racism. First appeared in American Herald Tribune (7800w) – Editors

Summary: The events of Charlottesville evidence the racist and xenophobic hate of the alt-right but we must not forget that, although perhaps not hate-based, racism remains a structural feature of our capitalist society. The struggle against racism is also the struggle against capital — Editors

Summary: This statement on North Korea and Iran by the Los Angeles Coalition for Peace, Revolution and Social Justice (CPRSJ) has been passed out at local peace demonstrations. The International Marxist-Humanist Organization (IMHO) is a founding member of the CPRSJ — Editors

Summary: A Chicago rally to memorialize Heather Heyer, killed in Charlottesville, Virginia, brought together a community of activists aiming to push back against Trump-style protofascim, white supremacy, police terror, and other new forms of oppression — Editors

Summary: This essay takes stock of the rise and fall of “dependency theory”—an important theory of social development in the non-Western world—in light of recent economic developments and the insights contained in Marx’s concepts of abstract labor, value production, and socially necessary labor time. Originally appeared in New Politics, Summer 2017 (3200w) – Editors

Summary –British Prime Minister Theresa May, having lost her Parliamentary majority in the June 2017 election, is now grappling with the prospect of national humiliation and economic disaster in the Brexit negotiations with the European Union. Does Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party now have a chance to present an alternative to austerity and neoliberalism? – Editors

Summary: Kevin B Anderson and John Bellamy Foster discuss the contemporary crisis of neoliberalism and how to fight it through an examination of the relevance of Capital today. This article was originally published in 3 A.M. Magazine, Thursday, July 13th, 2017 and can be found 3:AM Magazine Website — Editors

Summary: Three political currents have the wind in their sails: Macron’s neoliberal centrism, Mélenchon’s leftwing populism, and Le Pen’s rightwing populism with fascist overtones. This shows the political system’s overall instability, rooted in the economic and social stagnation that marks France and the developed world today. Originally published in New Politics Online, July 10, 2017 http://newpol.org/content/french-elections-install-new-political-order-it-built-sand (2361w) — Editors

Summary: This tribute to an inspiring revolutionary, who recently passed from the scene after more than eight decades of tireless theoretical and practical devotion to a creative Marxism, was first published in German by historian Mario Kessler in Neues Deutschland, English trans. by Axel Fair-Schulz — Editors

Summary: Two reviews of Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism (2012) by Ian Angus and Paul Kellogg, with a response by the author, Peter Hudis. This article was originally published in Socialist Studies/Études socialistes, Vol. 11:1, Winter 2016 –Editors

Summary: In his discussions of race, class, and revolution, Marx wrestled with many of the issues that plague today’s left. This review of Marx and Engels, The Civil War in the United States, second edition, ed. Andrew Zimmerman, originally appeared in Jacobin — Editors

Summary: The “Mother of All Bombs” shocked onlookers when it was dropped on eastern Afghanistan, but behind this singular spectacle is a long history of imperial powers using occupations to test military weapons and develop new strategies of terror. — Editors

Summary: Trump’s reactionary moves since his inauguration, with special emphasis on his racist, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, misogynist, and environment-destroying actions; first presented at an International Marxist-Humanist Organization meeting in Los Angeles on “Retheorizing Fascism in the Trump Era” — Editors

Summary: Trump’s bombing of a Syrian airbase does not change the overall logic of US imperialist policy in the region, although his bellicose words and actions heighten the risk of a major war there or in northeast Asia — Editors

Adopted on April 24, 2017 as a Statement of the International Marxist-Humanist Organization

Summary: Examines right-wing populism and its similarities/differences with fascism, and the relationship of both to economic crisis, both today and in the writings of Trotsky, Grossmann, Sohn-Rethel, and Dunayevskaya; considered in light of the need to overcome the capital relation in favor of humanism and freedom — Editors

Summary: Interview with Peter Hudis highlights the guiding threads in the thought and activity of Frantz Fanon as a humanist and anti-racist beacon in the battle of ideas and the struggle for an alternative to capitalism. Also addresses contradictions within Marxist-Humanism in the US. Orig. appeared in The Brotherwise Dispatch, Dec. 2016-Feb. 2017–Editors

Summary: A class struggle that is anti-sexist, anti-racist, and against all forms of oppression is central to Marx’s philosophy of revolution and the development of a new humanism. The force and reason of women of color are especially crucial to this process. First appeared in Knowledge Cultures 4:6 (2016) — Editors

Summary: The freedom movements in the U.S., and indeed around the world, have been dealt a tremendous blow with the election of Donald Trump as President of the U.S. As we absorb the significance of this development and prepare to respond to it on the basis of firm Marxist-Humanist principles, there are several points that I think may be worthwhile to keep in mind — Editors

Adopted on Nov. 17, 2016, as a Statement of the International Marxist-Humanist Organization

Summary: The new expanded edition of Brecher’s Strike! is a monumental contribution to labor history. This review discusses the book’s revolutionary qualities, while also questioning its treatment of the IWW and most importantly, of the intersectionality of race and class — Editors

Latest Articles

Summary: This is a crucial moment to show solidarity with an important political prisoner who has never ceased his struggle for a new, human society during 30 years of incarceration. Please contribute to the campaign to Appeal his unjust conviction. — Editors

Summary — Raya Dunayevskaya, in 1970, critiques the illusions of the counter-cultural “Woodstock nation,” and calls for a coalescence of the objective and subjective forces needed for social revolution — Editors

Summary: Marx wrote on how enslaved Blacks, white US and British workers, and Abolitionist and socialist intellectuals interacted during what amounted to a second American Revolution. Author’s last version of article in Journal of Classical Sociology 17:1 — via escholarship — Editors

Keep in Touch with the International Marxist-Humanist

Send us a request to join our mailing list. Please include your location so we can let you know about events in your area. You can also contact us using our email [email protected] or use the form on our Contact Page.

We are linking to the online version of the Raya Dunayevskaya Collection, which makes her germinal writings more widely available than before. (Her books have long been on our Literature Pages.) From time to time, we will be running commentaries with links to these online texts, whether on Marxism and dialectics, or on an array of other issues related to today’s myriad struggles for human emancipation and their contradictions. Read More…